Hello my friends, I can’t believe it’s October and we are already thinking about the holidays! Here in Germany, the Fall Pause is here so kids are out of school for the next two weeks… Then another two weeks in December for the holidays, so we have lots of time to craft and create at home with our kids or, if you don’t have children, even more time to craft for yourself and your home. I also just opened up my new photography and styling online course, so my students will soon be able to apply all of their new photo skills to holiday photography in the months to come.

I love crafts and find beauty and find much value in making things by hand. We really miss out when we don’t bother to try. My advice is to be open to making, to experiment with new things, and don’t judge yourself! Grab a DIY book, take an online course, or read a blog post (like this one) about how to make something special and smile! It’s ultimately just an object, we’re not curing cancer here - have fun!

Okay so let’s get started. This Holiday Wreath DIY (shown above) is presented to you today by We Are Flower Girls in Vienna. You can also make this in person at their studio in Vienna in November, more information here.

We Are Flowers Girls is a favorite here on decor8, I’ve shared their story and products before. They’re making and selling lovely dried arrangements online and I was sent this DIY story to post here, well in advance of Thanksgiving and Christmas, so you can bookmark it and buy your supplies now. If your stores are already stocking Christmas loot like mine are, then you’ll want to buy what you need in advance.

Here is a lovely photo step-by-step for you. It’s easy to follow along, I think few words are needed but I’ll do my best.

Step One: Gather your supplies. Wreath (with a foam core is best), scissors that cut wire, clippers for flowers/branches, also wire, 3-4 types of dried flowers or maybe some branches that you like, 4 candle holders that stick into a wreath and 4 candles in white, gold spray paint if you need it…

Step Two: Decide which flower or branch/twigs you’d like to spray gold. Maybe you were able to buy something already in gold. Or perhaps you want to nix this idea altogether. In this example, the eucalyptus was sprayed gold. You can also keep yours natural. In any case, if you have sprayed something, it needs to dry overnight before you can make your wreath.

Step Three: Create small “posys” or arrangements in your hand and wrap them to your wreath base with wire as shown above. Wrap one grouping or arrangement, then wrap another and another, overlaying them slightly over the previous one to close any gaps. The most important part of this step is to cover the straw base, at least the top of it. You can randomly stick in more flowers and leaves later, but the focus now is on getting your base covered. In this example, Limonium/Strandflieder in white was used (often called Sea Lavender in English) and Eucalyptus.

Step Four: When your wreath is covered with dried flowers, add in some sprigs of a 3rd and 4th variety and press your candle holders in place, adding the candles on top. Smile, you’re nearly done!

Step Five: On the first Advents day, light one candle on each Advents day after that, do the same. Or if it’s for Thanksgiving, use 6 candle holders and place in tall twisted tapers!

Enjoy the holiday season, it’s coming very soon!

Love,

Holly
[Note: This post is unpaid and not sponsored, I get nothing in return for posting this. I just found it inspiring and I wanted to share.]